Darkness and Light (the week the lights went out)

There are days in any career that makes one think the work he/she puts forth is simply not worth it. There are also days, however, when hard work is acknowledged, the stars align , and you know there is nothing you’d rather do than be where you are right now doing exactly what you are doing. For me, this occurred the week the lights went out.

This eleventh week began in terrible darkness. On Monday evening, an hour after my contract time, two angry parents barrelled into my classroom, demanding to speak with Mrs. Strangenewteacher. It seems their daughter had taken someone else’s social studies book, and when Mrs. Strangenewteacher conducted a school-mandated book check two weeks ago, she took the book that didn’t belong to the student. Even though she told the student she would have to purchase a new book if her book didn’t suface, the student went two weeks without a social studies book.

The parents were irate that I had taken the book away from their daughter, and the 6′3, 300 (at least) black father came into my classroom, after hours when there were very few employees in the school, and proceeded to scream at me, getting closer and closer to me as I retreated into my “teacher nook.” He refused to let me address the situation or call an administrator into my room. I was seriously terrified he would hurt me.

Somehow, my AP (who was 2 hallways down at the time) heard the man yelling and came to see what was happening. He listened just enough to figure out what was going on, and then he escorted the man into his office. The minute AP’s office door closed, I collapsed on my floor and sobbed. The adrenaline that pumped through my body poured out with my tears. As the man’s ranting pierced through the door, I tried to figure out what I had done wrong. I followed my AP’s directions to the T. I did exactly what I was told to do, and I even went beyond expectations by giving the student a printout of the price list for the book she was missing.  

AP managed to calm Dad down, and Dad came to apologize if he had come on too strong and he had upset me. AP was real proud of himself as he and the man walked out of the building and into the parking lot. The next morning, AP said, “What a night, Strangenewteacher!”

That’s it. Even though he had walked in on a vicious confrontation the night before and saw me puddled in a heap on my classroom floor, he didn’t bother to see if I was OK. Now I’m not one to want to be babied, but in the event of a traumatic situation like the one I endured, I would hope for my supervisor to at least make sure I was OK. Luckily, I have a huge support system in the form of my fellow teachers. They have helped me through the “I’m-not-cut-out-for-this” stage and got me back to sanity and realizing how much I really do love my job. 

Then, on Wednesday, power went out all through my district. Right in the middle of my notes on persuasive strategies. The kids went buck-wild crazy for about 20 seconds, but I managed to get them calm (with the help of a few emergency flashlights). I opened the classroom door to let some more light in and continued my lesson. About 10 minutes later, my LA AP decided to observe me (because, you know, there’s no better time to observe a newbie than in the middle of complete chaos). Thankfully, the lights came on about 30 minutes after that, so I didn’t have spend the whole day in pitch-black darkness with a room full of 12 year olds.

On Thursday, I went into LA AP’s office to get a copy of a book I was looking for. She sat me down and told me how proud of me she was. She said I managed my classroom better than many pros the day before, and she was impressed at the quality of instruction I managed to get in. We began to talk about my “Failure is NOT an Option” initiative, and I got to brag that, for the first time all year, each of my class averages is over 73%. She let me know that I was doing a very good job. She made me feel good about my work. I have regained the confidence the angry parent stole from me.

So I end my eleventh week still very much in love with my job (maybe not the parents, but I definitely do love my job). Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to sleep until late into Saturday afternoon.

It’s All Business Now

After a weekend of brainstorming ways to improve the second nine weeks, I am ready to unveil my plan. I have already introduced the new plan to students, and their reactions see-saw from astonishment to slight anger and back to astonishment again. I think I’m hitting home.

1) No more wasted time. For every one minute of wasted time each day in class, students loose three hours of instructional time for the year. When I heard that in a professional development, I spit my Diet Coke all over the table. Forget one minute of wasted time — I allow students to waste at least 7 minutes each day. That equals twenty one lost class periods at the end of the year. Twenty One. Most students had the same reaction as me. We all agreed that changes needed to be made. We can’t afford to waste that kind of time — especially when we’re failing county assessments.

I posted a giant sign on my whiteboard, and I refer to it each time students talk during instruction. I don’t think they realize that their chattiness wastes time. Now that they know, I can see most students making a conscious effort to stay focused.

2) No more missing assignments. My principal sent me an email a few days ago. She’s really big on quotes, and she likes to share the gems with her employees. I really liked the last one she sent me: ”It doesn’t matter what you know but what you do.” The students and I brainstormed the meaning of this quote, and we agreed that it meant (at least to us) that it doesn’t matter how smart you are, if you don’t do the work, you won’t be successful. That means missing assignments are no longer acceptable. If students fail to complete an assignment, I will contact their parent(s), and they will have working lunches until the work is turned in.

3. Failure is NOT an option. I have this sign posted on my whiteboard. I refer to it often. There is not one student who is incapable of mastering the 7th grade LA cirriculum. Therefore, I will not accept failure anymore. Students are required to complete all assignments. They are required to participate in class. Students who struggle to master the standards will come in early for extra help or serve working lunches with me. I simply will not allow failure this nine weeks — my kids are better than that.

Whew. That’s a drastic plan. Even I am sweating it. But it is something that I feel has to be done — I will not have another failure rate like last quarter’s. I want to show these kids that they are capable of greatness because they are. I am so incredibly proud of the learning and growth that took place last quarter, but it wasn’t enough. It’s time to step up and get to business. I’m not about to give up on these kids. I won’t let them give up on themselves.

Figuring out Failure

So, nine weeks down. One quarter completed. I’ve survived 1/4 of a school year, but I’m not satisfied with the way things are going. On Tuesday, students took a county-mandated final exam which covered the standards I have taught over the past nine weeks. Out of four classes, three failed (one failed miserably) and only one class surpassed the county average.

Emotionally, I am exhausted. I have run the gamut of emotion: from shocked to embarrassed to angry to hopeless to, finally, determined. I am determined to have all classes surpass the county average by 10 points this quarter. I am determined to make my students work harder and learn more than they thought possible. I am determined to learn from this quarter and not make the same mistakes again.

When I sat down to pow-wow with the kids this week, they were probably just as shocked at their scores as I was. They all thought  they knew the content. I asked them to reflect on the past quarter and write what they thought went well and what went wrong. Many admitted to me that they weren’t taking Language Arts too seriously, but now they will. All classes admitted that they waste time in class by talking and goofing off. A lot of kids promised to do their work this quarter. I am going to give them that responsibility.

As for me, I rushed through the material. We had so many standards to cover last quarter that I felt rushed. I didn’t adequately cover some of the concepts that I should have. I didn’t give as much practice as I should have. I had the students writing a lot (and their writing skills are through the roof — they’re going to rock the writing test), but I wasn’t doing a good job of getting the kids to incorporate the concepts in their writing. I didn’t provide ample review before assessments. I think, worst of all, I allowed myself to take student misbehavoir personally. I allowed distruptive students to take instructional time away from my classes. This quarter, I am not going to give as many warnings for behavior. I am going to crack down on the talking and off-task behaviors. I’m not going to punish the whole class for the antics of a few.

Two of my classes met or surpassed the school’s average, so I know I taught them what they needed to know. The classes that failed are the classes that I struggle keeping on task. I need to find ways to engage those students who refuse to do assignments. I need to find ways to successfully teach all students — not just those who want to learn. Any advice is appreciated.

I also asked the students to write a report card for me. I asked them to tell me how I am a good teacher and how I could be a better teacher. Aside from the one student who said I am racist and evil (I gave him 3 detentions and a referral this quarter, and he refuses to take responsibility for them — read about him in The Student Who Cried “Mean Teacher”), every other student gave me thoughtful and constructive advice. Here is what a few of them said:

“Strangenewteacher could be a better teacher by giving more conduct cuts to those who need them.” I completely agree!

 ”Strangenew teacher is a good teacher because she does not give up on us.”

“Strangenewteacher is a good teacher because when she explains things she always gives an example to helps us understand better.”

“Strangenewteacher could be a better teacher by giving more study guides.” I agree!

“Strangenewteacher should slow things down a little bit and stop moving so fast with our learning.”

“Strangenewteacher is a good teacher because she is determined to teach. Also because she makes us understand the stuff.”

“Strangenewteacher could be a better teacher by giving us two choices to pick from for our Friday journals.”

And my favorite:

“Strangenewteacher is a good teacher because she teaches with enthusiasm and excitement. For instance, I was in science one day and out of nowhere I heard her say, ‘Awwwww…. I forgot the comma in my who clause!’”

8th week reflection: The class that just doesn’t get it

Whew. Eight weeks down. I feel like I’ve been doing this forever. Even better: most days, I feel like I could continue to do this forever. I have established routines and procedures in my classroom that the students, for the most part, completely embrace. I am building some really great relationships with my students, and I am starting to feel more comfortable with developing creative and engaging lessons for the students.

I don’t know how it happened, but my students come into my classroom every day and get straight to work on their warmup. They are quiet and focused on the task. I hear Miss History next door yelling at her kids to sit down and be quiet, and I just want to hug mine for following my procedures. I am using Grammar With a Giggle for my warmups, and the students are really getting into it. I have given control of it to the students, so for the first 15 minutes of class, they run the warmup: they decide who looks up the vocabulary word(s) and writes it on board, they decide who makes the corrections on the board, and they are even starting to take my cue and ask the correctors why they made each correction. I love it: I just stand to the side and monitor. I have seen huge improvements in their grammar usage and vocabulary (they love to use “pulchritudinous” and “obstreperous” in their everyday speech at school!), and my LA AP has commented that she is very impressed with what I am doing with my kids.

9 week final exams are scheduled for next week, so I am finished teaching the cirriculum for first quarter. We’ll see on Tuesday how much the kids actually learned and retained. During our review on Friday, they were all commenting on how easy the questions were. I hope they meant it.

I teach four classes of Language Arts. I have very few problems with three of the class, but my first period class is completely unruly (to my standards). That class seems to think that days when I give engaging lessons, they are free to do whatever they want: chat, homework for other classes, sleep, throw paper across the room. When I give boring seatwork, though, they are focused and on task. On Thursday, I had had it, so I decided to make an example of that class. I don’t know if this is what “good” teachers do, but it is what I am going to do. At least for right now (and until I can get a better idea).

I have given this speech to each class: “As a team, you (students) have told me over and over again that you wished we could do more fun things in class. You want to be able to move around and do things instead of just taking notes. I want that for you, too. But you need to know that these kinds of lessons are not a right. They are a privelege that you have to earn. First period has taken advantage of engaging lessons for a week now, so for all next week, they will be doing seatwork. The rest of my classes have behaved wonderfully during the engaging lessons: they have fun while they learn, but when I need their attention, they get quiet and focused on me again. They have managed to stay on task and complete the lesson. They have shown me that I can trust them with fun activities. While first period does boring seatwork next week, the rest of my classes will participate in more interactive activities.” 

When I gave this speech, first period just sat there, acting unconcerned. The rest of the classes, though, were very excited. In homeroom on Friday, I overheard some 6th period students telling a 1st period student that Mrs. Strangenewteacher is going to make sure that he has no fun next week. The speech seemed to make the other classes want to behave better : they almost seem to know that I’m giving them a good opportunity. First period: well, they just don’t seem to get it.